Mastercard in conjunction with the Royal Bank of Scotland are trialing a new form of card that removes the need for cash.

The card is aimed at replacing the cash you would carry in your pocket and uses a contactless reader that will automatically debit an account when the card is placed over it. The cost of handling cash is very high, estimates suggest that banks and retailers spend up to £4billion per year just to use cash so the savings are substantial.

Maximum payments in the trial are £10 and random checks are made to prevent fraud by asking the user to enter a pin after a certain number of transactions.

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